ThanksgivingColours

Victorian china doll, with handmade Depression era dress, surrounded by vintage tins. I'm pretty sure this doll was "repurposed" during the Depression and updated with a bright new dress for perhaps the daughter of the original owner. I'd find a "proper" Victorian dress for it, or make something more suitable, but who's to say who loved their doll more, mother or daughter? The newer dress is now more than eighty years old, so it stays. And I'm always fascinated with once-bright colors as they age and these tin cases wear them well.

I just finished rewiring this ca 1947 Italian porcelain lamp. It's named Le Chanticleer, but I've always called it the chicken lamp. It was left to me by my mother's first cousin who died just a short time after my mom almost 13 years ago. Corinne bought it on a trip to Italy that year and of all her relatives, I'm the only one that cherished it, lol.

I guess even the wild beasts that roam around Pink Gardens' yard decided to have their own Thanksgiving. This was a cool brown pumpkin with pale gray highlights, but the interior is as orange as a regular pumpkin. I like the way the raccoons left the seeds nicely arrayed on the granite steps. Very Martha—"In-the-sticks-Martha," that is.

One Maple tree in the backyard clings to some of its golden leaves. 

Milkweed Pods—

They look like tangled, fluffy birds to me

Bedroom in a Puddle, Face in a Muddle

On the Road Again, Literally—Walking towards home the other day, my bedroom window was perfectly captured in an afternoon puddle in the road. Soon, the woods will fill out with leaves and Pink Gardens will hardly be seen until you're right in front of it.

On the Road Again, Figuratively—Playing around with the built-in camera on my new iMac late last night, (on loan from my publisher), I wondered, "When did I turn into Willie Nelson, lol?"

On the Road Again, Psychedelically—With that awesome Sixties perspective, posted today is Canned Heat's cover of a 1953 song by Floyd Jones, not Willie Nelson's classic of the same name. Skip the ad in the beginning if it shows up. I hate the fact that YouTube is placing ads in videos now.

Impromptu Summer Afternoon Nosh

Last night June picked a couple of tomatoes from her garden and made this great summer dish for late afternoon cocktails: tomato slices with fresh mozzarella and basil and oregano, all drizzled with olive oil. She also picked a nice handful of her haricot verts, the very slender green beans, and sauteed them with slivers of almonds. My favorite beer-of-the-week is in the background, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, which stands for India Pale Ale.

It's very calming to sit outside in the early evening watching all of the "wildlife" in the yard: squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, birds, woodchucks, deer, turtles, you name it. There are never any chemicals used anywhere on the property, and I swear the animals and insects tend to gravitate here.

Barely visible in this long-lens shot, is a wren that has built a beautiful nest inside this birdhouse. This wren seems to enjoy sitting inside looking out of the entry hole. You can just barely see a glint in its eye if you look right, lol. Reminds me of my friends that used to sit on the stoops of their brownstone apartments in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, lol. It's a great way of watching the world go by, and this wren enjoys watching us eat and work in the gardens.

Impressionistic long-lens view of the baby bunny, lol. We seem to have one adult pair and just one baby this year. There is a healthy uptick in birds-of-prey this year due to climate and the vagaries of the eco-system. This little tyke is currently about half the size of an adult.

Localcolour—Yard Close-ups

Snapshots taken yesterday walking around our new fenced-in veggie garden, The Ponderosa, lol. Click on each image to enlarge. Click again for HD : )

This Morning [in Glorious Technicolor]

Monday morning, inside and out. I love colors and making small exterior arrangements of found objects. Click twice to see much larger.

D I G I T A L   P H O T O G R A P H Y — Mornings look so fresh at this time of the year. Enjoy today's digital pics. Fresh flowers and miniature found objects sculptures for all. No time to write this morning! 

Click all images twice to see much larger.

Yesterday [in Glorious Technicolor]

Saturday April 10, 2010—A great Spring day in photos. 

D I G I T A L   P H O T O G R A P H Y — After close to five hours of physical labor yesterday, shoveling and spreading some fantastic mulch around all of my gardens, I walked around the yard and shot some pics. I also shot quite a few inside later that evening. These will eventually be printed and used as component images in my collages on wood. I'll print somewhere around seven hundred and fifty images for my next series. I cut them up in various sized squares or rectangles or strips for use on my wooden pieces. I like to have all of the pieces of my collages be 'user-generated' by me, hence all the personal photography of my admittedly fairly tight world. Finding the several layers in my finished products is one of the fun aspects to my work. All of the layers in my work consist of components I've previously created, flowers I've grown, the collections I've amassed.

Click all images twice to enlarge